Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Not much left.

I have the greatest respect for the EMT’s and others in the responders roles and also the everyday person who is thrust into the first help role simply by being available and they try as they can.

I think important is to know Jim so many times you are there for the one in need but you are there as well for those who are not. Sometimes the almighty takes them, his call, the stricken are in his hands. Just as important is your role in helping the ones left behind find comfort knowing all that could have been done, was done and their loved one was not alone.
Takes big shoulders, a bigger person, I look up to you.

Osky

You are absolutely correct!
How ya doing?

Emergency docs are supposed to save your life in critical situations, not pamper and chat about the weather.

Yes sir!

It’s really tough ! I quit because I couldn’t get the love ones from my mind. The people who died didn’t really get to me but my heart and mind broke for the ones left behind. I quit right about 30 years ago and I can still see the people and I still feel a tightness in my chest when I think of them.

Jim,
Thanks for your service. Before I was done I attended a training where they said everyone has a bucket and all that schitt from first responder jobs goes in the bucket. Everybody’s bucket is a different size and sooner or later the schitt in that bucket starts splashing over and getting on you. When it starts getting on you and affecting you and your family it is time for some help. Why most first responder suicides are at the end of a career and not the beginning. Not implying you are there, just that it is real, manifests itself in many ways and is no joke. Unfortunately I have seen it. Stay safe and stay healthy, a bunch of grinning kids who need you.

John

I did a month of CERT training with some EMTs.

They are a tough lot.

We had a hamburger buffet to celebrate our little ‘graduation’ hundreds of nasty stable flies were landing on and crawling through the tins of chopped lettuce and tomatoes.
And them dudes didn’t seem to mind

They were’t in the onions, flies don’t like onions.

One dude was talking and being all animated with has half-eaten burger had a fly on his burger. it was hanging like it was ridin the bull at Gilley’s.

My son certified as an EMT as a firefighter.
That young man has seen some bad stuff.
My two younger brothers were carrer Sheriff's Deputies and Highway Patrol.
Countless gut wrenching tragedies.

bless you Jim.

Try talking to someone via your dept. Years of that building up is not good for you or your family.

Dealing with dead children is the toughest

We seem to have a lot of members here that are or were EMTs. God bless you all.



If it's effecting your job performance or your personal life, it might be time to walk away. But of course, the post trauma stress part may dog you.......or pop up unannounced later, when you no longer have the agency resources to help you deal with it. My little PTSD issue reared its head years after the fact (yes, ribka, dead children involved). By accident, I found that writing the memory down in detail (which was painful) and then sharing it with my wife made it go away. And there's something about having that memory enshrined in stored text that I think makes me feel more human. Might not work for everyone, but something to keep in mind.

Thank you Sir James, and all the others.

I'd say although quantitatively being an emt in a city is worse. Serving a small community where you know or know of most everyone you help would/could be tougher.

I was a Paramedic for 14 years. I'm trying to forget those calls, the 8 year old boy walking across the road to catch the school bus, a pickup ran the school bus warnings and hit the kid at 40 mph. Dead 7 different ways. And his mom watched it happen, she is on her knees in the road, hugging her boy and crying.

The stress builds up.

Did the full and part time EMS thing for many years. Have been in the fire service for 26 years. I know EXACTLY what you are talking about!! These were the days before provider welfare was a big deal so it was simply clean up the truck and be ready for the next one. For me I knew it was time to take a break from the EMS side once I STOPPED reacting to the bad ones. Had seen enough and became hardened to it to the point I had a "oh well, bad sheit happens" attitude and seeing real bad sheit had no effect on me and realized it was probabably time to take a break. Good luck to you and remember there is no shame in using any resources that may be available to you to help with this.

I will also add that at least around here things have gotten better. Not too long ago I located a deceased victim while performing a primary search on an overnight residential structure fire. Seems the fire was barely out and I was being pulled aside to speak to a mental health provider from the county who had been sent to the scene. I was not particularly distressed in this case so our conversation was short but I was given a packet of resouces to follow up with if I needed. We as fire officers as well as EMS and PD have the ability to request a response of a provider to conduct a group session after any traumatic incident and individual providers have resources available 24/7 for free of charge mental health care.

Hard to keep the emotional checkbook balanced, with big withdrawals and small deposits.

Focus on those deposits. Find the good whenever and wherever you can.

Keep your head up big Jim, not alot of people out that could do what you do.

My wife was in a bad wreck in highschool. Her father was first on the scene. Happens in a small rural communities. In my wreck 2 years ago, everyone knew who it was when they pulled into my field. Some guys didn't handle it very well.

Hang tough , Big Jim! I was involved as an EMT, SAR team,Dive team, ski patrol, rural for many years. It does wear on you. My first call as a newbie EMT was a buddy of mine , .357 magnum to the head, in front of his wife and young boy! He still had a pulse when we got there,as we were at a snowmobile trailhead for a tentative search. Not everyone can do what you do , but God put adversity in your path for a reason!